This thread is very timely. I was thinking this morning, "what if I packed it all up and moved down toward Raleigh?"

Charlotte area here. Moved from Boston. Would never go back on purpose.

Yeah. It’s horrible here. That is why our suburban homes are selling in 48 hrs.

I have lived in the Raleigh area twice, initially relocated by my employer and the second time I chose to move back here. Housing is very reasonable, especially if you are coming from the Northeast. The Cary/Apex area is pure suburbia... nice houses jammed on small lots and lots of kids per sq mile. I live in rural Chatham county, west of Raleigh on 10 acres and can't see a neighbor. On second thought, it is horrible around here, don't even consider it!

You might want to look east of Raleigh too. Knightdale, Wendell, and Zebulon, are all nice places. Knightdale and Wendell are really growing and you can still get to the Crabtree area in about 20-25 min.

Rolesville is NE of Raleigh and is also worth checking out.

FWIW, I really like the area. I live about 30-40 min east of Raleigh in Franklin county and work in Wendell. I try to avoid downtown because I don't care for city life, but there is a lot to do in and around Raleigh. A bunch a good restaurants are right downtown with a pretty good nightlife scene. College sports are huge given that we've got NC State, UNC, and Duke all within spitting distance of each other. There are several lakes to play on nearby. There is a great greenway trail system.

You can be on a beach in about 2 hours. Boone is ~4 if you want to hit the mountains (Sugar, Beech, Appalachian) for some skiing or down hill Mtn biking. The Blue Ridge mountains are spectacular for camping/hiking.

Others have addressed most of your points, but I would just only like to say it's one thing to be tired of winter, but you had better be prepared for a LOT of summer. There are usually 40-50 days above 90 degrees and a few over 100, and it rarely goes below the 80 degree mark from mid-May to mid-September. I think it was in 2010 that there were 90 days above 90 degrees. And it is seriously humid. Dewpoints in the 70's are not uncommon, and high 60's are routine. So casual outdoor activities are pretty sodden. Think Hickock45 shooting and dripping sweat in his summer videos.
Just thought I'd impress that upon you. It didn't really bothered me when I was younger and would go for 2-4 mile runs in the evening or spend time around a pool or at the beach, but it is no fun if you really don't want to drip sweat constantly. Maybe I'm just a sweathog.
It's kind of swell for the first few years, being used to a NW Pennsylvania climate. But at times it is just unrelenting.

grrr.... typed out a detailed reply and someone came into the office and, as you can guess, somehow the reply was not there once I got back to the screen.

I've lived in Denver, Houston, Austin and the Raleigh Area. There is a reason why Denver, Austin, and Raleigh are generally on the top 10 places to live.

I'm honestly shocked by some of the responses about BBQ (really, are you moving to find a BBQ joint), traffic and taxes. Most of the info is just flat wrong or folks have not lived in larger cities and don't really know what a 3 hour traffic snarl is like.

You've gotten responses saying it's hot and humid. We'll Raleigh is in the south. It's hot and humid in the south. If you want to get rid of snow you move south. Hot & humid generally gets worse if you go further south. And it's only really bad late July and August.

Great place if you're into shooting sports.

My email is in my profile. If you want more info shoot me an email and we'll set up a call. Happy to tell you the good, the bad and the ugly about living in the area. Also happy to meet if you visit the area. We have lots of nice people, low crime rate, great shooting sports, great hiking and biking trails and generally a nice place to live and raise a family.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SR,

Holy smokes, Ilooked at job postings in that area last night.
I love my current neighborhood -- and most od my neighbors -- but I think I could be tempted to look more closely.

For BBQ, try Clyde Coopers in downtown Raleigh. If you hate vinegar BBQ, well, them's fightin' words.

Also, the job market, in and around Raleigh, is smokin' hot with the pay to match. If you have a specialty and it's either in IT or Medicine/Science, you'll earn a fine living.

Traffic is pretty bad. Infrastructure is not doing well at all and poorly funded (politicians, whaddyagonnado). Think of constant road construction estimated to last 50 years with 1 or more redo's because someone didn't follow directions.

Taxes are VERY high (compared to their neighbors) in Orange and Wake county, Durham is getting up there as well.

You still have to pay the 'Welcome to NC' vehicle tax on the estimated value. Vehicle taxes and tags keep rising to keep the hogs fed.

Currently home inventory is low and sellers usually get at or above asking price for a home in a desirable neighborhood (sells just as soon as it's on the market - unless its a crap home).

I don't complain about the weather, it's fine.

Skiing sucks here, but that's why you have other places close by; i.e. Wintergreen or take a flight to a real mountain (with actual snow).